truth matters
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How Can I Be Sure?
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13)
It has been said that humble
assurance and certainty about being a child of God, and one day being with Him
in heaven throughout eternity, are hallmarks of Bible believing Christians.
So far from being complacent and presumptuous, Christians meekly claim this
as their birth right. It would be intolerable for a child to go to his or her
parents with the question ‘Am I really your child?’ and for the parents
to reply ‘we are not telling you; wait and see; you may be, you may not
be’. How much more would our loving heavenly Father want us to be sure
that we are His children.
Traditionally this confidence rests on three great truths.
First there is the clear promise of God.
Jesus said
‘whoever comes to me, I will never (no never) drive away’. (John
6:37)
Again
‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give
them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of
my Father’s hand’. (John 10:27-8)
As a Chinese student once put it: Jesus has said it; He is God; God cannot lie;
I trust Him. Paul can speak with confidence to the Christians at Philippi (Phil.
1:6)
‘he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until
the day of Christ Jesus’.
And teaching a universal truth Paul writes to the Romans (Rom. 11:29)
‘God's gifts and his call are irrevocable’.
That is to say God doesn’t take away what He has given. Being a Christian
means being born again - one cannot be unborn again!
‘But I don’t feel any different’.
If I became a naturalised Frenchman, in due course I might begin behaving as
a Frenchman (wearing a beret? My heart might be stirred by the Marseillaise?).
But initially it would be the naturalisation papers – the word of the French
Government – which I would have to trust. So when feelings are absent I
must cling to the clear Word of God.
Secondly, there is the completed work of Christ.
When Christ died on the Cross He paid the price for all the sins of all his
people – sins we have committed and sins we will commit. So when someone
becomes a Christian it is not as if the sins that they have committed up to
that point are cancelled, and then they have to claim further forgiveness for
each sin committed thereafter. No! All our sins are forgiven, forgotten for
ever. God says:
‘Your sins I will remember no more’. (Jer. 31:34)
‘I became a Christian several years ago, but I have sinned so badly
since then, and I have often fallen into the same sin again and again, can God
really go on forgiving me?’
When I became a Christian God did not have me ‘on approval’. He accepted
me unconditionally. The fact is that all those repeated sins have already been
paid for at Calvary when Jesus died and cried out ‘Finished’, which
could equally be translated ‘Paid’ (This means that it is actually
presumptuous not to be sure. It is to imply that Jesus did not do enough when
He died for our sins).
‘But that means I can go on sinning as much as I like if they have all
been paid for’.
The same point was put to Paul. ‘By no means’ he replied. Anybody
who takes up that attitude has not begun to understand how incongruous it would
be to accept the love and forgiveness that Jesus purchased through dying for
us, and then to turn round and say ‘thanks very much, but I intend to go
on doing those very things that took You to the Cross’.
Why, if all our sins have been forgiven once and for all on the Cross, do
we need to go on confessing our sins, and asking for
forgiveness?
There is a big difference between a relationship being spoilt and a relationship
being broken. When I misbehaved as a small boy – and subsequently –
my relationship with my father was not broken. I was still his son. But the
relationship was seriously strained until I had apologised and asked for his
forgiveness. Once I have become a child of God, He cannot disown me, but I need
to keep short
accounts.
Thirdly, there is the continuing work and witness of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
This is more subjective than the first two great objective truths, but it is
the main thrust of the great New Testament letter on the subject of Christian
assurance, namely the first letter of John. John points out that once we have
become Christians, sin more and more leaves a bitter taste (which is why we
often feel more sinful after becoming Christians then we did before – this
is a very good sign!) and we begin to want to keep the commandments which were
largely a matter of indifference to us beforehand. So there is indeed a moral
test
‘We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.’
(1 John 2:3)
.
Alongside a sharpened conscience and a growing desire to do His will, there
will come a new love for fellow Christians. Those whom we used to think were
rather odd and quaint – anoraks and sandals – we now see as brothers
and sisters whose company we increasingly seek out, and we really miss it when
we cannot join them at a church meeting or Bible Study
‘We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our
brothers.’ (1 John 3:14).
These more subjective tests are not meant to lead us to soul searching and massive
introspection. In fact, the old adage stands ‘for one look within, take
ten looks at Him’. Those ten looks at Him will remind us of His unbreakable
Word in Scripture and His finished work on the Cross. Humbly and with great
confidence we shall by His grace have complete assurance.
Jonathan Fletcher is vicar of Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon.